Join us for micro- Mania! This first Friday event is a one of a kind community and culturally focused event with story telling, Jazz, and delicious decolonized food.

The night begins with micro-fictions from the Alejandro Zambra hosted, How to Forget how to Write Fiction workshop participants.

This portion includes an intermission by the Jazz group, The Solomon Trio, which will be performing for the remainder of the evening. Please feel free to make a donation to support the music.

Micro-fiction is followed by Micro-meals, a sampling of recipes from the book, Decolonize Your Diet, a cookbook with ingredients focused on foods indigenous to the Americas. $6 per plate.

In the Spirit of community, Palabras and McDowell Market will also donate 10% of sales to Aliento, an undocumented & youth-led organization committed to organize people who are directly impacted by the unjust laws of immigration & provide community healing through art for those who face the trauma of detention, deportation & threat of separation.

It’s a night of a little bit of everything good. We call it Tapas for the Soul.

Registration is now open for this year’s Arizona SciTech Festival Kickoff Conference, “Building the Arizona STEM Ecosystem,” where we will kick-off the 7th season of Arizona’s SciTech Festival!

The Summit will be held at the Mesa Arts Center on August 31st from 7:45am to 4:00pm.

What makes this conference so unique is the diversity of collaborators represented with business, industry, education, government, NGOs, community leaders and more! With 40 sessions, 60+ exhibitors, and countless networking opportunities there is something for everyone! Last year’s summit drew just over 1200 attendees. Don’t miss out!

“This year’s conversation will center around Building Arizona’s STEM Ecosystem with the diverse stakeholders, communities and resources it takes to position Arizona as a world leader in science, technology and innovation. A primary objective will be to solidify Arizona’s STEM Ecosystem by helping to establish unique collaborations through interactive panels, workshops, tables and more.”

– STEM & Education – Innovative ideas and practices to impact science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics in and out of the classroom.

– STEM Pathways – Learn about key AZ industry sectors such as Cybersecurity, Sustainability and Materials Science through diverse perspectives from industry leaders, University research professors, PK20 educators and more.

– Computer Science and Engineering – Computer science and engineering have become some of the hottest topics in education these days. Learn about opportunities to engage from the state of the art tech business to a coding club or hackathon in your backyard.

– Student Voice – Learn how students are transforming the landscape of STEM in our communities.

– STEM Diversity – Arizona is home to many diverse stakeholders. Join conversations how leaders are working to increase engagement of all Arizonans in STEM.

Cost

General public – $40 (Early bird – $30 before August 4th)
Educators – $30 (Early bird – $20 before August 4th)
Students – no charge

**Please feel free to pass this info to collaborators you think might be interested in this opportunity.**

The 2017 Rural Policy Forum will connect rural economic development professionals, nonprofits, community leaders, business owners, and other rural stakeholders who are interested in sustaining rural communities.

Our goal will be to hear strategies from national experts as well as learn about success stories from around Arizona that will give our rural leaders the tools, resources and relationships they need to face current challenges.

This years Rural Policy Forum will be held in Safford & Thatcher, Arizona!

GOALS & OUTCOMES

> Increase the community capacity of rural towns
> Improve regional collaboration between nonprofits and public entities such as businesses
> Build relationships and facilitate networking between rural stakeholders
> Grow rural advocates
> Develop new strategies for building resilient communities

This event is open to women in the community looking for the opportunity to network and find assistance with going to school. Whether you are looking for a vocational program, community college, or university, this event will help you to make informed decisions about your education

The sunflowers have begun to blossom and we need your help prepping the field and the grounds for our big dinner on June 4. We’ll be spreading mulch, weeding, watering, hanging string lights, painting, and more!

Mark your calendar for garden days this Spring/Summer:
Summer Garden Days: June 3, July 22
Fall begins on August 5

To address a number of topics pertaining to development issues, specifically in the context of rural communities. Topics will rotate on a monthly basis with new speakers, examples, and ideas coming from all corners of the state.

This month’s topic will be investigating the relationship of education and the workforce. One keynote factor to economic success is a strong workforce and training strategy, however, that process starts well before an applicant enters the field. Workforce training begins in early educational development.

Hear a discussion of four underlying challenges common to the development of many markets, but told through stories of Navajo and Apache county communities and the innovative solutions they applied to address: 1)Slow-to-grow STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) initiatives; 2)Lack of high-quality, relevant and engaging professional development; 3) Disconnected communities and unshared resources; and 4) A workforce lacking soft skills.

Attendees of this webinar series will learn:

– Innovative techniques to address common educational and workforce development
– What types of approaches are successfully being implemented throughout rural AZ communities
– How to implement new approaches in your community
– Where to find resources to support educational development

The webinar is free to attend, however, you must register because space is limited and it is on a first come first serve. Be sure to register soon and make sure you take good notes because there will be approximately half and hour for Q&A at the end of the webinar presentations.

Speakers:
Jalyn Gerlich was appointed as Navajo County Superintendent of School on December 2015 and was re-elected November 8, 2016. Education has been a long time passion of Mrs. Gerlich, she has taught and supervised preschool through post-secondary in her 28 years in Navajo County.

Kate Doblar-Allen, received her B.S from Arizona State University in 1994. Kate is currently the Regional Director of the Navajo/Apache Regional Partnership Council, which is responsible for programmatic and financial strategic planning of direction and decisions that will support the regions’ youngest children and their families.

Kalman Mannis, works almost exclusively in rural and tribal communities. As of January 1 he left the classroom and administration duties to take on his current role as Project Director with Rural Activation and Innovation Network, a National Science Foundation funded research grant. He works with several other educational advancement projects around the state.

Shift, one of Flagstaff’s hottest new restaurants, is hosting a collaborative dinner with Chef Sam Williams from Oak Creek’s Indian Gardens Oak Creek Market. Localists can look forward to Chef William’s classic technique and modern plating, as well as his passion and respect for fresh local ingredients.

**Localists can flash their Localist card for a special sweet treat at the end of the evening!**